Live a life of splendor
【2011 KRC Alumni Association‧Writing Camp Teacher Encouragement】
Every spring, the apricot tree at the foot of the mountain in front of the window always blooms. Annie Dillard, who often thought she was lucky, wrote the book "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" and went looking for a "glowing tree" everywhere. But I always mature in season, and when the time comes, I can silently admire this shining tree.
Have you ever thought about how wonderful it would be to live a life as bright and white as an apricot tree? The calmness between heaven and earth, the freedom and tranquility, and the fact that it will bloom and bear fruit faithfully and on time are entirely because trees have their own life cycle and time.
What about us? Do you also know your life form and time between heaven and earth? Do we know what the blueprint of our lives is?
Bezalel: Artistic Director of the Tabernacle
Peterson once mentioned that one of the influences on his identity as a pastor was an artist, and a little-known artist at that. 1 This is suspicious, because identity is a deep self-identity. It is to find out in God God’s intention and blueprint for your life.
If we talk about the influence on identity, pastors should influence artists, and spiritual teachings should influence the presentation of cultural life. How can it be that artists influence the identity of pastors?
Who is this artist who deeply influenced Peterson? He is Bezalel, who has been dead for three thousand years and appears in the last six chapters of Exodus.
Peterson would have noticed Bezalel because his first pastorate involved building a church and leading a new congregation. So he read the book of Exodus and wanted to learn how to be a spiritual leader from Moses. However, he accidentally "bumped into" Bezalel, a man who had never been known to anyone and who had never become a spiritual leader on the pulpit. artist. For us Christians who are engaged in literary and artistic creation, this actually contains unusual insights and revelations.
In Exodus, Bezalel is seen as the artistic director responsible for the construction of the Tabernacle of Israel. Exodus 31:2-5:"Behold, Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, I have called him by name. And I have filled him with my Spirit, giving him wisdom, understanding, and knowledge; He is capable of all kinds of craftsmanship, of making all kinds of things out of gold, silver, and bronze; he is able to engrave precious stones, to set them in stone, to engrave wood, and to do all kinds of work.”
Taking a step back and looking at the entire book of Exodus, there are forty chapters in total. In the first thirty-four chapters, many wonderful signs and wonders happened, and there are many important stories of salvation and revelation to be told. But starting from chapter 35, it enters a relatively static situation; Moses begins to teach the importance of the Sabbath. The next six chapters present how to worship. Bezalel took the lead in the design and construction of the tabernacle, providing the Israelites with a good material environment to worship God and to recall their identity as God's people.
Peterson found that Moses was the founder who led the early days of the founding of the nation of Israel, and Bezalel, the artistic director, was the architect of the continuation and maturity of faith life. This is reflected in our spiritual culture, where salvation comes first and worship comes later. How our lives are saved and edified define our identity as children of God. But how to tell the world our saved life story over and over again, reveal the connotation of our faith, and reaffirm our faith identity is the worship of life. This is also the field where literature and art use various materials or words to "incarnate the Word" in a rich and creative way.
You are the Bezalel chosen by God in the 21st century
In this way, prophets, priests, and artists all play equally important roles in the construction of the kingdom of God. Preaching the gospel, building churches, and building up spiritual life and culture are equally necessary.
Bezalel may not have had the salvation experience of leading the Israelites across the Red Sea like Moses, nor did he receive the "Ten Commandments" from God to promulgate, carefully record and teach the laws and regulations. However, Bezalel realized all the details of his religious life in the construction of the tabernacle, and it was extremely glorious and beautiful according to God's instructions. Whether it is the weaver, cloth, size, color, embroidery, buttons, gold hooks, bronze hooks, soapwood pillars, etc. of the curtain, or the ark of the covenant, altar, golden lampstand, and showbread placed in the tabernacle The table, the plates, glasses and bottles on the table. Or the holy garments worn by priests, inner robes, outer robes, crowns, bells, breastplates inlaid with precious stones, and the inscription "Holy to the Lord" written in engraved calligraphy tied to the crown, etc... all have symbolic meanings and are fully Materialize, live, and present our beliefs in a concrete and subtle way.
All of this is building a beautiful and sacred environment to help people worship the invisible God every day, recall the experience of redemption, and concretely present the beauty and dignity of faith life.
It turns out that artists are so important in participating in the creation of worship life, as well as in the construction and inheritance of spiritual traditions! In some ways, our words are pulling up the line between heaven and earth for the world and building a space for worship within it. Use various materials in life to salvage the essence of grace spread throughout the world, leaving some profound traces in heaven and earth for the thousand-year saints.
The language we leave behind in "time" is obviously not legal teaching, but stories and various images. They are a few warm lamps hung in the historical corridor, which can illuminate the gloom and desolation. Our pens are our footprints in the world, taking us to places where we are not present and spreading messages of love and hope. It is also our boat that crosses the dragon's pond and the tiger's den. Deep in the heart, it calls out to the lost prodigal son.
Our identity is that of Bezalel chosen by God in the twenty-first century.
Let’s look at Bezalel in the scriptures. He was able to use gold, silver, copper and other metals, as well as wood, precious stones and other media to make various craftsmanship. It can be said that he is a skilled craftsman who is proficient in various materials and arts, how enviable! However, although he was the artistic director, the original idea for all the tabernacles came from God. What kind of blueprint is built, what kind of materials are used, what kind of technology is used, whether it is light or heavy, whether it is shallow or deep, whether it is simple or complex, all come from the creation filled with the Spirit of God.
All the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge that Bezalel possessed came from God. What does this show? If it is God who chooses us, then God must have an artistic blueprint similar to a "tabernacle" for each of us to complete. Then God will definitely give you the relevant needed gifts, talents and wisdom according to His will. Most importantly, He will also give the Holy Spirit to help complete the "tabernacle" entrusted by Him.
Find the "Tabernacle" where you serve
However, do we know what our “tabernacle” is? If it is clear and honest, all the anxiety about talent or self-pity about not recognizing talent in creation should disappear. If so, it means that we either have a wrong understanding of our "tent of meeting", or we have no faith in God, or we do not have the presence of God's Spirit. Which one are you?
Peterson once shared at a pastor's conference that he originally wanted to engage in literary creation. But after writing several less successful novels, they all ended without success. Later, due to an opportunity, he began to pastor a church. The questioning in literature and the author's creativity prevent him from "imitating". The rules in the sect and the bureaucracy in the pastoral church repeatedly stimulated him to not be willing to just "hang out" like this. So he began to ask a simple question: "What is a pastor?"
In order to answer this question, he began to write a series of books on pastoral care, such as "Returning to the True Nature of Pastoral Art", "An Exploratory Journey in Pursuit of Calling", and "The True Meaning of Pastoral Care for Building Life". Later, he published "The Pastor among Pastors". "Shepherd" is praised. Even when he was nearly eighty years old, the title of his memoirs was "The Pastor" (2011, no Chinese translation yet).
In his memoirs, he said:
"I can't imagine not being a pastor now. Long before I knew it, I was a pastor, but I just couldn't find a name. But once the name appeared, all the related experiences and memories that seemed scattered gradually took shape. Coming together to become the person I became, it was like finding a glove that fit perfectly—a calling that merged all the pieces of my life into a life-long mission: Pastor.”
For Peterson, it was obvious that "pastor" was his "tabernacle," his identity. However, his contribution to pastoral care is not only to become a pastor competently, but also to write so many books that interpret the office of "pastor" from various perspectives, as well as a variety of creative and vivid exegesis texts, including sold-out books. Published millions of copies of the "Message Bible". It affects not only pastors, but also thousands of believers who pursue a deeper pursuit of faith.
"Tabernacle", we need to find our own "Tabernacle"! It’s also about writing. Are you writing a creative novel or a book on a certain theme? Should you write your own articles or translate other people’s articles? Is it writing a book or writing a book review? Before finding the "Tabernacle", I might have been like Peterson writing novels, which were not very good and unsustainable. Once found, such a simple topic "pastor" can also be filled with rich and varied writing for a lifetime.
After finding the "Tabernacle", if you can trust and obey, God will add all the gifts and talents needed to build the "Tabernacle". Many anxieties in creation will be purified, and the "tabernacle" built will be unexpected and bless many people beyond our imagination.
I hope that each of us can find our own "tabernacle", live out our personal splendor, and shine for the Lord in heaven and earth.
Note
Eugene Peterson, The Pastor: How Artists Shape Pastoral Identity, Ed. By W. David Taylor, For the Beauty of the Church, (Bakers: Grand Rapids, MI 2010) p.89-94.
Author profile
Mo Fei came to the United States from Taiwan at the age of 18. He worked as a computer engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company in California for six years, then specialized in writing, and now lives in Los Angeles. He is the author of the prose "Accidentally, I Stumbled upon Paradise" and the novels "Portraits of Six Women", "Remnant Faces" and other books. He is a standard bookworm and lives in his head.